Here almost every product
of the land and of the water bears the unmistakable stamp of the American
continent. There are twenty-six land birds. Of these twenty-one, or
perhaps twenty-three, are ranked as distinct species, and would commonly be
assumed to have been here created; yet the close affinity of most of these
birds to American species is manifest in every character in their habits,
gestures, and tones of voice. So it is with the other animals, and with a
large proportion of the plants, as shown by Dr. Hooker in his admirable
Flora of this archipelago. The naturalist, looking at the inhabitants of
these volcanic islands in the Pacific, distant several hundred miles from
the continent, feels that he is standing on American land. Why should this
be so? Why should the species which are supposed to have been created in
the Galapagos Archipelago, and nowhere else, bear so plainly the stamp of
affinity to those created in America? There is nothing in the conditions
of life, in the geological nature of the islands, in their height or
climate, or in the proportions in which the several classes are associated
together, which closely resembles the conditions of the South American
coast. In fact, there is a considerable dissimilarity in all these
respects. On the other hand, there is a considerable degree of resemblance
in the volcanic nature of the soil, in the climate, height, and size of the
islands, between the Galapagos and Cape Verde Archipelagos: but what an
entire and absolute difference in their inhabitants! The inhabitants of
the Cape Verde Islands are related to those of Africa, like those of the
Galapagos to America.
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